Calls to CreateActCtx fail when the calls try to set a process-wide manifest inside an IIS 7.5 application

When you call the CreateActCtx API from inside an application hosted on Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5, the call fails, and there is an error that indicates that a process-wide manifest is already set. Additionally, you experience the following symptoms when you test the IIS 7.5 application:

• You cannot create managed objects from assemblies that are included by using an external manifest file for the W3wp.exe process.
• Registry-free COM does not work because the process-wide manifest is not set correctly.

This problem occurs because the W3wp.exe process was built by using a predefined process-wide manifest in the Windows 2008 Server R2 operating system. Because the process-wide manifest is already set, calls to the CreateActCtx API to set the process-wide manifest fail.

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing the problem described in this article. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for installing this hotfix package.

Restart requirement

You must restart the computer after you apply this hotfix package.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace a previously released hotfix package.

File information

The English (United States) version of this hotfix package uses a Microsoft Windows Installer package to install the hotfix package. The dates and the times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in the following table. When you view the file information, the date is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

Windows Server 2008 R2 file information

The MANIFEST files (.manifest) and the MUM files (.mum) that are installed for each environment are listed separately. MUM and MANIFEST files, and the associated security catalog (.cat) files, are critical to maintaining the state of the updated component. The security catalog files (attributes not listed) are signed with a Microsoft digital signature.

For all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2

For all supported IA-64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Additional Information

Additional file information for Windows Server 2008 R2

Additional files for all supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2

Additional files for all supported IA-64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2